Mr. Medusa

David Shelton Still Keeps `Em Jammin` In The City`s Hottest Nightspot, Where Booze Is Taboo And The Dress Code Is Out Of Control.

March 14, 1990|By Text by Martha Engber, Photo by Chris Walker.

The heavy, sweaty heat vibrating with the steady beat makes the jungle feel seem real and alive on this Saturday night in the dark building marked 3257 Sheffield Avenue. A sea of black- and silver-clad bodies bobs and spins in virtual darkness; others sway while watching the mesmerizing motion through a smoky haze. There is whispering in dim corners and laughing in other brightly lit rooms. Constantly moving, this crowd is the integral part of the tribal-like ritual that goes on every Saturday night at Medusa`s.

This ``streety`` place, considered by many to be the hottest teen juice bar in Chicago, is all the creation of David Shelton. That`s the David Shelton, 33, owner of an old farmhouse in Elgin and a Dalmatian named Mona, and who used to want to be a kindergarten teacher.

For a $7 cover charge and until 10:30 p.m., teens can drink hibiscus coolers or a lemon recharges, hear advice like ``You best be chillin` `` and listen to live music by the Flea Circus or Sex Kittens in a wild, clashing atmosphere that`s largely devoid of drunks and druggies.

`Mom would freak`

One passing 14-year-old said she won`t give her name because ``my mom doesn`t even know I`m here. I don`t think it would be too cool if she found out. She`d freak out. . . . It`s not like in the burbs. In the burbs they say it (Medusa`s) is so bad, but it`s not.``

Shelton, a man of medium height with shoulder-length brown hair, said the only other goal he had growing up was to get out of high school as soon as possible, which he did by taking extra classes. ``I hated high school. I was an outcast.``

Instead of joining the football team or going to pep rallies, he listened to rock `n` roll radicals like the Rolling Stones and David Bowie and hung out with people considered by other students to be trash. Yet those are precisely the people ``who basically say what`s on their minds. You feel the same with them,`` he explained.

At 15, he started going to any Chicago nightclub that would let him in. Sometimes he and his friends would even go out in drag as a gag. ``We`d cause a lot of problems, but we were just having fun,`` he said.

It was at this formative period in his life that Shelton had a friend perm his long hair so that it fell in long locks down his back-a look that earned him the nickname of ``Medusa`` after the Greek creature who had snakes for hair. The image, changed to a smiling face with snake-like electrical plugs for hair, is now the logo of Shelton`s new record label, called MBEAT!

Your basic all-American

Yes, Shelton said, despite that wild period, he`s basically been a conservative man-the son of a foundry worker and a United Airlines employee.

``I`m not judgmental. . . . I`m pretty open to what everybody does.``

After high school, it was two years in an Elgin college, six months in Hawaii and a three-year career in United Airlines` food service division that ended when Shelton figured he wasn`t going to get beyond sweeping floors and washing dishes.

That`s when he started to sink his energy into what he know knew intimately, Chicago`s nightclub scene. ``I know it like the back of my hand.`` The idea of opening an after-hours juice bar like those in New York City came together when Shelton opened 161 West, a loft on Harrison Street. ``It was a dump, but once the crowd got in there, you didn`t notice it,`` he said. He got disc jockey Frankie Knuckles, of the now-defunct South Side nightspot called the Warehouse, to bring his crowd on Friday nights to play ``house,``

the high-energy underground music that`s so popular today.

Unfortunately, Shelton was evicted and tried other locations and club deals until finally renting the vacant, plain brown brick building on Sheffield. Because the club opened in 1983, a year late due to delays in getting his license, Shelton found himself flat broke and eating day-old bread despite help from friends and family. ``It was poverty,`` he said. ``I was on the skids.``

Medusa`s finally opened at 1 on a cold Sunday morning that October. People learned of the place through word of mouth and within a month the business just exploded, Shelton said. Many times the place would stay open until 9 or 10 a.m.

Testimonies from the fans

Five years ago, Shelton started the Saturday teen night. (After 10:30 p.m. only people age 17 and over can stay until closing time at 3 a.m. The club is also open until 2 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays for people age 17 and older.)

The whole point is to socialize in a hip, alcohol-free place, said Jason Gorski, 17. ``There`s nothing else to do. There are no other clubs in the city (for teens).``

And to ensure that Medusa`s is alcohol-free, a 73-year-old woman weighing 95 pounds frisks patrons who look like they`re trying to sneak in booze to spike their papaya-guava juice.